On the Corner of Eighth and Central
For more than 80 years, Grace Community Church has stood on the corner of Eighth Street and Central Avenue in Old Town Seal Beach, a single block from the ocean. From that corner the church runs three Sunday morning worship services, a children's ministry that serves from nursery through fifth grade, a student ministry for middle and high schoolers, life groups that meet in living rooms across the city, a Stephen Ministry care team, and partnerships with local nonprofits that bring food, shelter, and education to neighbors in need. The phrase that runs through the church's own writing captures the posture well: "For Christ in the heart of Old Town Seal Beach."
Eighty Years on the Same Corner
Grace began during World War II, when two youth Bible studies merged to start a new church. The earliest gatherings met on the second floor of the building that now houses Walt's Wharf restaurant on the corner of Main Street and Central Avenue. The young founders eventually purchased three vacant lots on the corner of Eighth and Central, a block from the ocean, for $7,500 in 1944. The church has been on that corner ever since.
The founding pastor was George Peek, a 28-year-old former police officer. Under George's leadership the new congregation built on those lots and established itself in the community. After George left to lead North Long Beach Brethren Church, the congregation went through a series of short-term pastorates for two decades, then welcomed Roy Roberts in 1972. Roy was a dynamic preacher, and the church grew under his care. Mike Ryan succeeded Roy and led the effort to build the south building, which still houses the Sanctuary today.
Don Shoemaker had served as a pastor at Los Altos Grace before joining the Bible faculty at Biola University. He was an elder at Grace when he was called to become Senior Pastor in 1984, a role he held until 2012. Under Don's leadership the church changed its name from Grace Brethren Church to Grace Community Church, a deliberate shift meant to signal love for the Seal Beach neighborhood rather than emphasis on a denomination.
In the late 1990s, young adults from Grace launched ministries that still exist. Sharalyn Shaw started Precious Lamb Preschool, a Christ-centered program for families experiencing or at risk of homelessness in Long Beach. Cami Sigler went to Sierra Leone to begin Word Made Flesh-Sierra Leone, helping children in one of the poorest parts of the world. Steve Williams succeeded Don in 2012 and helped the congregation chart a path forward. In 2016 the church voted to install Bob Wriedt as Senior Pastor-Elect, and Steve retired the following year. Since then Grace planted its first church, Branches Church of Arcata, California, and continues to send missionaries around the world. The current prayer of the congregation is that the most fruitful years still lie ahead.
What Grace Believes
Grace holds to a set of statements of faith rooted in the historic Christian tradition. The church confesses one true God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who created all things visible and invisible. The church confesses the pre-existence and deity of Jesus Christ, his incarnation through the Virgin Mary, his full humanity, his sinless life, his miracles, his atoning death on the cross, his bodily resurrection, his ascension, his present ministry at the right hand of the Father, and his personal Second Coming.
The Holy Spirit indwells every believer, baptizes them into the body of Christ, and equips them with spiritual gifts. The Bible, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God, sufficient for all matters of faith and practice. Humanity was created in God's image as male and female, but fell into sin, making the new birth necessary for salvation. Salvation is complete and eternal, received by God's grace alone through personal faith in Jesus Christ. The church observes two ordinances: Baptism and Communion. Death is gain for Christians, who enter the presence of the Lord, and the Second Coming is personal and visible.
Five Values, Five Questions
Grace organizes its ministry around five values, each paired with a personal question:
Participatory Worship: "Have I made time for God today?" The worship of God is described as the primary privilege of the Christian. Citing the Westminster Confession, the church wants its people to be consistent and passionate worshipers of God, not only on Sundays but throughout the whole week.
Biblical Worldview: "Does my life reflect growing obedience to God's Word?" Citing James 1:22, the church warns that hearing the Word without doing it is self-deception.
Faithful Compassion: "How am I expressing God's love to others?" Love is listed as fruit of the Spirit, and a lack of loving compassion is taken as a sign that God's Spirit may not be at work in a person's life.
Known By Name: "Am I cultivating authentic relationships?" The church is described as the family of God, brothers and sisters knit together by adoption into a common Father.
Missional Life: "Who am I helping to know God?" The mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, and everything the church does is measured by whether it helps people know God and points them to the gospel.
Sunday Mornings at 8:00, 9:30, and 11:00
Grace gathers for three Sunday morning services in the Sanctuary. All three services are identical in content and offered online as well as in person. The 8:00 AM service is the earliest and typically the quietest option for those who prefer a smaller crowd. The 9:30 AM and 11:00 AM services are the larger family services, with Grace Kids offered for children birth through fifth grade during both, and the Student Collective gathering for middle and high school students during the 9:30 AM service.
For a first-time visitor, the church invites you to park behind the building in designated visitor spots, accessible through the alley on Central Avenue. The 8th Street city lot across from the church is available on Sundays until 1:00 PM, except spaces marked for OCFD personnel or along the wall next to the Fire Department. Beach parking is available at the end of 8th Street, and Chase Bank on Main and Pacific Coast Highway offers free parking beginning at 7:00 AM. The church sits a block from the ocean, across the street from the Seal Beach fire station. The easiest route is to turn south on Main Street from Pacific Coast Highway and turn right at Central, the second stop sign.
Inside the Sanctuary, the style is contemporary, led by Worship Pastor Chris Howard and a worship team. Sermons are expository, working through books of the Bible in extended series. Past series have included 2 Corinthians, which ran for six months, and the Book of James. All sermons are archived for listening and study, and sermon discussion questions are provided for personal or group study. Services stream live on YouTube at the same three hours.
Grace Kids from Nursery Through Fifth Grade
Grace Kids serves children from birth through fifth grade during the 9:30 and 11:00 AM Sunday services. Children are checked in at the Registration Station on the second floor above the Sanctuary, in the Main Building, and classes meet on the second and third floors. Parents receive two name-tag stickers, one for the child and one for the parent; the parent sticker is required at pick-up. Every Children's Ministry volunteer is trained and background-checked.
Classrooms are organized by grade. The second floor houses the Nursery for babies and toddlers who are not yet potty trained. The third floor holds Preschool for 3-year-olds who are potty trained, Kindergarten and 1st Grade together, 2nd and 3rd Grade together, and 4th and 5th Grade together. Check-in opens at 9:15 AM so teachers can set up and pray. At least one parent is asked to remain on campus while children are in Grace Kids. The second and third floors are locked during the time children are present.
Josie Ramirez directs the Children's Ministry and also serves on the national leadership team for Women of Grace USA. Before coming to Grace Seal Beach, she and her family were deeply involved at Norwalk Grace Brethren Church for thirteen years, where she served as women's ministry director and children's director at different seasons. She and her husband Joey have been married twenty-five years and have three young adult children: Timothy, Ben, and Katie.
Vacation Bible School returns each summer. The program typically runs in mid-July from 9:00 AM to noon and is open to children four years old through fifth grade (just completed). Pre-registration opens in the spring, and a small fee covers materials. A Parents Night Out runs during the year so parents can drop off their kids for an evening.
The Student Collective
The middle and high school program at Grace, known as the Student Collective, meets on Sundays at 9:30 AM and Thursdays at 6:00 PM (Midweek) in the Surfside Chapel, the double doors by the lawn. Typical attendance is 25 to 40 students per gathering. The staff includes a director and eight weekly volunteers, maintaining roughly a 4-to-1 student-to-leader ratio. Every volunteer is background-checked and trained as a mandated reporter.
The Student Collective is led by Dave Manuel. Gatherings include games, large-group teaching, and small groups divided by gender and grade. The program is intended to partner with parents in the discipleship of their teens, and a weekly parent email keeps families connected. The student ministry team encourages newcomers to come at least three times before deciding whether to call the Student Collective home, since each gathering feels a little different. The team also prays regularly for students who have not yet attended.
Life Groups Around Living Rooms and Backyards
The primary vehicle for adult community and discipleship at Grace is the Life Group. Groups typically have 8 to 12 people and meet in living rooms, backyards, restaurants, on the church campus, or over Zoom. Some groups are Bible studies, some discuss the previous Sunday's sermon, some are prayer groups, and some are organized around age and stage of life. A full list of open groups is kept up to date, and newcomers can browse categories and request to join.
Beyond Life Groups, the church offers a weekly prayer life group called "30 Minutes of Prayer." Anyone can join the church's prayer efforts through this group, through the online prayer request form, or by praying for publicly submitted requests on their own. Prayer requests can be submitted online, and the pastors and ministry leaders pray over each submission weekly.
Stephen Ministry: One-to-One Care
For more than 20 years Grace has been part of Stephen Ministry, a national network that equips lay people to provide one-to-one confidential care to individuals 18 and older who are experiencing difficult life transitions, losses, or grief. Stephen Ministers receive 50 hours of initial training plus continuing education and peer supervision. The church has trained dozens of Stephen Ministers over the years, and they have stood alongside many members providing distinctively Christian care. Those interested in receiving care can contact Stephen Ministry Coordinator Sharon Hamel.
Hands and Feet in Seal Beach and Beyond
Grace is an active member of the Seal Beach Chamber of Commerce and regularly participates in the Seal Beach Christmas Parade, the Be More Healthy Expo, and Halloween on Main Street. The Compassion Ministry partners with several local and regional organizations to extend the church's reach into surrounding communities:
- Precious Life Shelter supports women and children in crisis pregnancies.
- Precious Lamb Preschool provides a Christ-centered early-education program for families experiencing or at risk of homelessness in Long Beach.
- World Relief focuses on refugee resettlement and immigration services.
- Heart of the City Food Bank addresses hunger in the local area.
- Habitat for Humanity builds and repairs homes for families in need.
- Horizon Pregnancy Clinic offers services to women facing unplanned pregnancies.
- Project Angel Tree provides Christmas gifts to children of incarcerated parents.
- Long Beach Rescue Mission serves people experiencing homelessness and addiction.
- Foster the City mobilizes churches to support foster and adoptive families.
Sent to Sierra Leone, the Philippines, and Beyond
Global Mission is one of the major arms of the church. Grace supports a number of long-term missionaries serving with organizations like Word Made Flesh, Encompass World Partners, First Love International Ministries, and InCommon Community Development. Missionaries supported by Grace serve in:
- Sierra Leone with Word Made Flesh
- The Philippines (Boracay) with First Love International Ministries
- Portugal (Lisbon) with Encompass World Partners
- San Diego, CA with Thresholds
- Omaha, NE with InCommon Community Development
- Long Beach, CA with Encompass World Partners (two missionary families)
- Osaka, Japan with Encompass World Partners
- France with Encompass World Partners (two missionary families)
- Thailand with Three Strands Ministries
Florent Varak, who serves with Encompass World Partners in French-speaking Africa, has been a guest preacher at Grace. Justin Fox, a former Worship Pastor at Grace, has since planted Branches Church in his hometown of Arcata, California, becoming the church's first church plant.
A Part of the Charis Fellowship
Grace Community Church is a member of the Charis Fellowship of Churches, a fellowship of more than 200 churches across North America, formerly known as the Grace Brethren Fellowship of Churches. Each Charis Fellowship church is self-governing and autonomous, calling its own pastors, leaders, and elders, while remaining connected to a larger network of ministry, service, and resources. The Charis Fellowship itself is part of a global family called the Charis Alliance, with like-minded churches in 33 countries.
Leadership
The pastoral team is led by Senior Pastor Bob Wriedt. Associate Pastor Jason Ricafranca partners with him in preaching and teaching. Worship Pastor Chris Howard leads music and worship. Josie Ramirez serves as Director of Children's Ministry, Dave Manuel as Director of Student Ministry, Randi Kisner as Director of Communication and Outreach, and Christa Heideman as Director of Operations.
Steve Williams, who served as Senior Pastor from 2012 to 2017, continues to serve on the elder board overseeing Seniors Ministry and Stephen Ministry. Greg Bartleson chairs the elder board, with Paul Kneeland as Vice Chairman and Tom Enyart as Secretary. Other elders include Glen Fukumura (Finance, Facilities, Children's Ministry), Ben Badgett (Stewardship), and the three pastors above who serve as pastoral elders.
Getting Involved
Grace is supported entirely by the tithes and offerings of its members and attenders, which fund compassion and missionary partners, ministry budgets, staff salaries, and church facilities. Giving can be done in Sunday worship services, online through the church's giving platform, by mail, by Zelle to giving@gracesealbeach.org, or through bank bill pay. Legacy Giving is also available for those who wish to plan how their resources will be used after their lifetime.
Volunteer opportunities are listed and updated regularly. The church offers a Welcome Lunch several times throughout the year for newcomers to learn more about Grace. Baptisms are scheduled regularly, and a sign-up form is available for those interested. Membership is open to anyone who has professed faith in Jesus Christ and has been baptized; a separate form is available for those ready to take that step. Anyone can subscribe to the weekly Grace email newsletter to receive updates and prayer chain notices.